Your Capitol Hill

yourcapitolhill.com

In Spring of 2009 the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Sound Transit asked Dumb Eyes to respond to an RFP for a website that would help to mitigate the impact the six year long Capitol Hill Light Rail Station construction would have on neighborhood businesses. Our solution to create a platform for merchants to promote their businesses and connect with the neighborhood residents directly was applauded by committee members and we were granted the project.

Your Capitol Hill

yourcapitolhill.com

The basis for creating a strong user experience was developing an information architecture for the site built on a taxonomy to organize the 500+ merchants, services and organizations that would be represented. We did this through card sorting exercises, interviews with CHCC + S.T. and neighborhood residents. Our efforts resulted in a simple three tier keyword hierarchy that allows users to find the business profiles they are looking for with certainty (i.e., find vegan restaurants that offer a kid friendly lunch and a late night happy hour). These business profiles can be filtered in list form in the Explore section of the site or through an interactive Google map which offers walking and driving directions and public transportation options.

Neighborhood business owners manage, modify and customize their profile content and have the option to add events, promotions and pictures through a simple in-context Drupal framework CMS (content management system).

Your Capitol Hill

To help drive the creation of site content and create a community, we built a micro-social-networking platform that promotes a positive exchange of reviews, up to date list of members favorite businesses and events they are attending. The site is sustainable, accessible and developed using web standards on a Drupal framework. New members and businesses are joining and connecting through YourCapitolHill.com daily, and the site currently serves an online community of 15,000+ visitors.

Your Capitol Hill

Print and web advertisements

To capture the essence of the hill we used bold modernist iconography to represent the top-level sections of the site. This iconography was used to reinforce the brand on billboards, promotional materials, social media marketing, commercials, etc.

Prior to launch, minimal outreach and marketing efforts were made to generate awareness about the site. We proposed a multi-faceted phased approach to attract neighborhood businesses, residents, taste-makers and press. We started by placing print/web banner campaigns in city-wide publications.

Your Capitol Hill

Animated web banner advertisements

We created sets of simple eye-catching web banner ads utilizing the site iconography. These ads were placed in various online news outlets.

Your Capitol Hill

Social Media Marketing @yourcapitolhill

For the greatest impact, we’ve chosen to focus the lion’s share of ongoing marketing efforts on social media to quickly connect with business owners, drive traffic to the site and extend the brand’s mission. Within three months the YourCapitolHill Facebook page has gained 2,000+ followers and was quickly recognized as the best aggregate source of all neighborhood business promotions and events.

Your Capitol Hill

Billboard

Simultaneously, we created a striking thirty-foot graffiti and element proof metal billboard with street level placement at the busiest intersection in the neighborhood.

We also created a teaser advertisement video which was played before Three Dollar Bill cinema screenings during their Summer Outdoor Movies in Cal Anderson Park series.

Yourcapitolhill.com, along with the YourCapitolHill twitter page, continue to attract visitors, reinforce the brand and create the daily online conversations that are critical to the success of the neighborhood’s economy.